The new law requiring Texas voters show government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot is working as intended

AUSTIN — The new law requiring Texas voters show government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot is working as intended, according to state officials. And the proof is in the two weeks of early voting that ended Friday.

“I gave my driver’s license and it went as advertised,” Gov. Rick Perry — whose full name is James Richard Perry — told reporters after he voted Wednesday.

“The elections are going quite well,” Perry said. “As a matter of fact, we had a substantial bigger turnout from 2011.”

This was in reference to the previous vote on constitutional amendments when less than 6 percent of Texas voters went to the polls. This year, the Texas Legislature is asking the electorate to approve nine propositions, particularly one that would allow the lawmakers to withdraw $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to begin funding water projects.

However, for state Sen. Wendy Davis, who hopes to replace Perry when his current four-year term expires in early 2015, it was a slightly different experience when she voted Monday.

Davis, D-Fort Worth, had to sign an affidavit before voting because the names on her voter registration card and driver’s license are slightly different: Wendy Davis on her voter card and Wendy Russell Davis on her driver’s license.

The same thing happened to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the perceived Republican frontrunner in the 2014 gubernatorial race: His name on his driver’s license is Gregory Wayne Abbott but on his voter card it’s Greg Abbott.

End of the story in the two-year voter ID fight? Not quite.

Although Perry and other officials say the voter ID law is working, for Davis and other critics of the legislation the Republican-dominated Legislature approved in the 2011 session, what happened to her last week is one of numerous concerns they have with the new law they continue fighting in court.

“There’s a tremendous concern it will create a problem for women who have been legally voting for years to be able to vote ... and that they may be surprised by it,” Davis said after casting her ballot, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“I hope the word will get out,” she said. “I hope we will continue to see women vote as they have in Texas.”

The latest wave of criticism for the voter ID law began on Oct.21 — the first day of early voting — when 117th District Court Judge Sandra Watts signed an affidavit for similar reasons Davis did a week later.

“What I have used for voter registration and for identification for the last 52 years was not sufficient yesterday when I went to vote,” Watts told a Corpus Christi TV station.

“This is the first time I have ever had a problem voting,” she said. “I don’t think most women know that this is going to create a problem.”

Davis, Watts and other critics said they are concerned the law will impact many women who have changed their names after getting married or divorced.

Name variations can include middle names missing on voter rolls but listed on drivers’ licenses. In the affidavits voters sign, they swear they are who they say they are. Nothing else is required and their vote counts.

Another concern is that in Dallas County, the second most populated in the state after Harris County, the name variations required one of every seven voters to sign affidavits.

However, the bigger concern is next year when a significantly higher number of voters are expected to go the polls, mainly because of the unusually high number of statewide races and competitive legislative contests.

“I don’t think you can see the real impact of voter ID law this year because most people don’t vote on constitutional amendments,” Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, said before early voting began.

“The real impact would be next year when we have many statewide and legislative races and a lot more people vote,” said Martinez Fischer, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

The caucus is one of eight plaintiffs in a suit U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, filed in a federal court in Corpus Christi. The suit alleges the voter ID law is aimed at suppressing the vote of more than a half million Texas voters, mainly among the poor and the elderly, who lack government-issued photo identification or have difficulties getting it.

“It is important for the state of Texas to acknowledge that they do have a problem,” said Martinez Fischer, who questioned whether the Texas Department of Public Safety is prepared to everything it can to make sure people who don’t drive can get the state-issued identification needed for voting.

“Texas is a big state, 254 counties, 26 million people living in the state,” he said. “Is DPS doing everything it can to issue IDs in areas like West Texas or in the 80 counties that don’t have DPS offices?

Texas Secretary of State John Steen, whose office oversees the state’s elections, and other officials say yes — in public and in court.

In an motion to dismiss the suit, filed Thursday, the state argues “anyone who lacks photo identification can get an election-identification certificate.”

Moreover, “the plaintiffs have not alleged that anyone in Texas is unable to obtain this identification,” the motion reads. “They claim only that the ‘burden’ of obtaining photo identification will cause some people to choose not to obtain it. That is not sufficient to allege a ‘denial’ or ‘abridgment’ of the right to vote.”

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"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

Take all that time to sign paperwork to get married or divorced and you decided to change your name (which is not required by law) and then you're upset and complain because you were to lazy to make your IDs' match.

Kinda like being mad at the post office for not delivering your mail when you moved because you were to lazy to fill out a change of address form.

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

it? It has nothing to do with the folks who don't have the proper documentation to get voter identification, and don't have the means to get that documentation. It has nothing to do with the time and cost of obtaining the proper documentation or getting the voter ID.

I guess the people who work during DMV office hours, and can't afford to lose the time required to obtain a voter ID are just lazy.

At least some GOTPs are honest about the goal of the "election reform laws", unlike a lot of other GOTPs.

Since so many females have their maiden names as middle names on Driver's Licenses, I'm wondering if that was/is required to get such a license? I got my license so many years ago that I did not have a married name. I was a "single" driver for years until I married. Then I applied for a name change. Did the Driver's License Bureau keep my maiden name for that reason -- so my past records would agree?

Then, when I sign my name on the voter list each time, I've always just signed first and last (married) name, and that's what they derived the list from.

When I checked online to make sure that my husband and I were registered, I used my first and last names. It was not until I went to vote that I found that my two "legal" names were not the same on the two lists.

I would say they are NOT "lazy voters" but voters who did not understand how the lists were made. Also, my first and last names have been accepted for the past 50+ years when I have voted.

This new voter law that triggers a "Provisional" ballot is suspect -- purely POLITICAL!

"It can get worse.... Provisional ballots only get counted if the number of ballots in the provisional pile could change the outcome of the office voted on...which means most of the time they are just tossed."

"Translation: "White dudes won't have any problems, so there are no problems"."

Again with the racist sexist approach to any problem. So, can you prove that no woman of any race has voted? That only white males have had no problems? Or have there been women who have voted, regardless of race, who have produced the appropriate documentation and its has as stated, all gone as advertized?

Just as an FYI, I would also have had a problem, as my DL put my middle name as my last name and my last name as the middle one, but I checked it at time of issue and had it changed. It was not difficult to do, and I even got an appology from the DPS.

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

I'm talking about Perry. If you don't view the world the way he seems to, feel free not to include yourself as one of the folks I am targeting in my post.

On the other hand, if you also tend to view the world through white guy glasses, feel free to feel included.

If I lived in another country, where brown or black guys were in control, I'd probably use different descriptors when I criticized them.

As an older white guy who has learned to be a little less biased in favor of white guys being in power, I feel that it is my right and my responsibility to point out white privilege and male privilege in our society.

I find it disconcerting to disagree with you......which is very unusual....your friend who ran for office is wrong!

I contacted my wife, a county clerk, who is busy setting up for tomorrow's election.....

she say's your friend is not correct......she went into a long explanation....she said she didn't have time to send it to me in an email....however, she said you could contact your voter registrar or in a rural county the county clerk for a clarification.....

the gist is that provisional ballots are not automatically discared if they don't affect the outcome of the election......

If you and your wife are correct, I am much relieved. I certainly HOPE that's the way it is, but the friend who ran on an independent ticket jumped through hoops just to get his name on the ballot. I hope he's wrong, because I, who am very careful about such matters, DID check to see that I was registered -- I just did not realize that my normal signature without the middle maiden name caused my voter registration to disagree with my driver's license signature. Thanks!

When I sign the voter list, will I need to sign all three names? I don't think the little blanks are long enough to contain all three names since they aren't short. Also, I certainly want my DEMOCRATIC vote validated since I suspect every Democratic vote will be checked in every detail in order to invalidate it in this RED state!

No, DON'T interrupt her. I can find out -- and I can also sign all three names just for safety. It's no big deal at this point because I know I am registered. I DID think to ask if I needed to get my driver's license changed when I renew and she said no, that would make me go through the provisional thing all over again. I'll just sign all three names even if it takes two lines! :-)

I would not disagree that a voter ID law is reasonable. I do disagree with the difficulty that some people have in obtaining photo id's. While it is easy for a governor with a driver and security guards and the ability to make his own schedule to get all of the documentation that he needs for a voter ID, there are many people that do not live near a DPS office and do not have a drivers license or security guards or drivers that can help them get a voter ID card. These people often work long hours for low pay and do not have t he ability or luxury to take off four or five hours to get a voter ID. These are the people that have the same right to vote you and I do and they are being disenfranchised.

I guess if you are a GOTPer, this would be what you would want, because these people would tend to vote contrary to your way of thinking.

Women of Texas, you have the power to change these attacks!!! The only way to change this insanity is to play the game for now. Make sure you have the proper documentation that they want and if you do not, get busy and get it right! After that, get to the polls and vote out these crazy incumbents that think they own Texas! Don't delay, the women of Texas can turn this state blue again!!

Here are a state senator and attorney general who apparently don't know the laws. They were either for or against the law during the voting on it or checking to make sure it is legal to have such a law. I would hope they would know what was in it. Funny how nobody is claiming it is the law of the land like they are the Affordable Care Act. They both were passed by our representatives and have yet to be overturned by our court system. Just an observation.